Friday, February 27, 2009

Supermodelquins Debut!

Sure am glad I started following Alex Bogusky on twitter...



The writing is fantastic and the concept is hilarious. Very Crispin.
I remember seeing some supermodelquins comps when I was there last quarter. I thought they looked a bit creepy. I'm glad to finally see how this stuff is getting produced!

The supermodelquins are also starting to emerge on the Old Navy website:



>>>UPDATED 03/01/09
Here's an article about the "kitschy" new campaign on Ad Age.

Don't forget to check out Old Navy Weekly, the gossip magazine spoof where you can find hidden coupons for ON stuff.



Here's the denim derrieres commercial:


And they're also establishing a loyal following on facebook. Understandably a lot of people think the supermodelquins are creepy but that's also what they said about the king...

Schizonomics

This political campaign is for real, guys. Look out Chicago!



It definitely stands out from the typical, dismal political ads. I think it would actually be effective if the voting age was 10.




Glad to see he's trying to appeal to the much neglected Mermaid and Vampire minorities.

This campaign is pretty schizo. You have the Batastic philosophy video, ridiculously random commercials, and some kind of patriotic/energy efficient lightbulb competing with the cliche, clipart-esque symbol of financial success for an identity.

I commend the effort to be different and it definitely gets my attention. I just don't know if it would get my vote.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Five

I re-realized that Five gum is a pretty cool brand. I'm actually chewing a piece of Rain right now after Pam called me out on having falafel breath.



I think they did a great job of launching the brand a few years ago in a super-saturated & commoditized market. The packing alone stands out, very innovative and well-designed. Even down to the texture detail on the front.

Then the commercials are out of control! I want to be in all of them for real. Why is it called five? Well the brilliant tagline is "Stimulate Your Senses." Obviously the first is taste, and the flavor lasts suprisingly long. Sight is next because the packaging is so pretty. Touch, because of the texture and you interact with the packaging. Smell because it makes your breath smell better (thanks, Pam!) and whatever gum I have in it determines what my purse smells like. And sound? Umm, I guess I can hear myself chew and the wrapper makes a crinkly sound when you crunch it up?

I would bet the creatives on this account at AMV BBDO London/Energy BBDO Chicago are fans of The Matrix. (This agency was second on my Internship QA list after DDB, which pulled out. Now I wish even more that I put it as my first choice instead).






Half-Blood, Half-Assed

Just read MM's blog and got super excited about Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince, supposedly hitting theaters in July. I feel like I need to reread the book to refresh my memory. Anyways, I found the teaser poster and I have to say it's got some pretty bad typography, among other things.


It just doesn't do the movie justice!

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Veggies Sell Sex

Not that I'm an avid reader of Maxim, but I am stoked that they highlighted the top ten sexiest vegetarians. It's about time we got some props (even though they admittedly stole the list from PETA)!
They should have written an article or something in more detail about why we're better than normal girls.
I mean it's way cheaper to take us on dates; it's not like we order the surf & turf. We're usually 10 to 20 pounds lighter and have more energy...






Reminds me of the Lettuce Ladies website/ad campaign that i posted about a few months ago, complete with tofu wrestling and girl-on-girl make-out tours.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Musical Magic

The top three music videos out right now...

THE LONELY ISLAND "I'm on a boat"


STEWIE GRIFFIN "Everything I Do"


MISS MARAUDA "X Marks the Spot"

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Let's Face It

I like the idea behind Dentyne's new Make Face Time campaign by McCann Erickson, even though the executions are a little too mushy for my personal taste. Who would have thought just a few years ago that we'd see a campaign that encourages people to interact in person again?








My favorite part of the campaign is the website - it kicks you off after 3 minutes, but of course they will give you extra time if you want to further promote the brand...



Monday, February 16, 2009

Photoshop Fail

This screencap has been sitting idle on my desktop for a while. I saw this ad on Pandora and probably didn't even need to save it because the images are so bad that they are forever burned into my subconscious.



It's pretty much one of the worst design jobs I have ever seen! The mohawk and glasses are masked really horribly and the type kind of makes me want to gag. It's a big random mess of vector and rasterized images that don't go together at all. And you gotta love the default photoshop brush action and fake-blur effects. The thing that irks me the most is that there are like 3 different logos battling it out.

I could keep going and going and going on about how bad this ad is, but obviously the image speaks for itself.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

V is for Vile

Why do people celebrate this day? I've never seen the significance of it although I came close to celebrating it one year in college when I gave my boyfriend a box of Franzia and superman boxers. He wasn't 21 yet and we had some inside joke about the superhero that I don't even remember now.
I mean really, if there was a half-naked guy running around shooting arrows at people, I'm pretty sure he would be arrested and charged with multiple felonies. The holiday is also prejudice against diabetics.
It's totally a conspiracy collaboration between candy companies, florists, and makers of sappy crap everywhere. The only thing I like about this "holiday" are those little conversation hearts that everyone else thinks taste like chalk.
I found a great interactive ecard that combines my ironic love for candy hearts and my hate for the occasion that created them.
However, I think some ecards says it best!







Friday, February 13, 2009

Quiltface Army

I randomly found these promo posters on the graphic design forum for this group called Quiltface Army. The Army is 4 guys from Pennsylvania conquering the world with their sick graphic design skills. You can see more work on their myspace page.









Thursday, February 12, 2009

Soap & Glory

So I bought a soap & glory body wash at Target the other day. I pretty much love the packaging design; Barbie mixed with I Love Lucy and a hint of Sex and the City. I tried to visit the website and got this little screen. I guess it's a good way to appease people while your site is down.


So many fun options! I didn't know I could star on a label or suggest a product-related pun!
I love packaging that entertains me...



Taterworks

Just saw this commercial on the big screen at my teacher's agency, Alma DDB. Super cute/cool concept!

My only criticism is that the tag "Happiness is simple" is similar to Coke's "Open Happiness." I guess the alternative is some kind of fireworks pun like "Exploding with flavor."
Why am I not a copywriter?
LoL

Client: Frito Lay
Agency: Juniper Park, Toronto
Production Company: Suneeva
Director: Mike Long
DoP: Stephen Blackman
Creative Directors: Terry Drummond, Alan Madill, Barry Quinn
Art Director: Hylton Mann
Copywriter: Andy Linardatos
Editor: Griff Henderson
Agency Producer: Janice Bisson

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Nanerpus!

For my 200th post I wanted to do something special. But instead, I'm posting the Nanerpus!

Monday, February 2, 2009

Birthday By Grey

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!

The Aftermath

This may or may not have been the one second ad. I'm not 100% sure because I didn't see it myself yesterday. I must have blinked.


Once again I was disappointed overall with the Superbowl commercials this year. It just doesn't have the same prestige as years past. Thanks to Ad Blitz, you can vote for your favorite superbowl commercials through their YouTube channel til wednesday.

Some that I was close to liking:




Sunday, February 1, 2009

The Power of One

So the buzz has been building about Miller's one second ad set to air during the superbowl today. My sister actually first told me about it. According to the website, 1secondad.com, the strategy is to save money, even though they developed a website and additional spots that aired the past few days to promote it. The tagline is "Good, honest beer at a tasty price." I don't particularly like the wording but I like the idea behind it:

"Paying $3 million for a 30-second commercial makes about as much sense as putting saurkraut on a doughnut. Actually, even that makes more sense. We'd rather have our message short and to the point, if it means delivering more honest beer at a tasty price."

So I guess the price of a superbowl spot is $3 million for 30 seconds. Actually seems on the low end of the spectrum to me. Wanna know what else 3 mil can get you? 230 tons of smokehouse bacon (or tofu?), 1,800 belt buckles, 15,000 skydive jumps, and the list continues...



Either the creatives at Saatchi and Saatchi New York were really lazy or really innovative. I'm inclined to bet on the latter.

Here's some spots that didn't make the cut:


Hmmm... reminds me of the man-tastic campaigns someone else I know likes to do...
Will try to post the actual spot after the game.